Grant and Danny
How Will The Commanders Replace Austin Ekeler?
Yeah, Austin won't make it, you know, for the game and it's the right call for him not on our short week to go over a chance to see what next week looks like then. But we do have a lot of confidence. It's one of the groups that we have a deep crew that can roll strong. And so when called upon, we're certainly ready to do that. And we're also excited for Jay Mac. He's somebody, you know, hasn't got a lot of touches, a lot of opportunities, but I do know that he is somebody when given those chances, he does not miss his ops. Dan Quinn announcing that Austin Echler would not play for the commander's Sunday in Arizona, no wasting time with that announcement already comes down the pike on Wednesday. My guess is they're not even going to fly him out there then. No reason, right? I mean, why would he even join the team? He will join this show though on Friday at 5 p.m. So he'll be in Virginia, presumably when we talk to him and get ready for the commanders and the Cardinals on a football Friday here on Grant and Danny. He mentioned J. Mac, that's Jeremy McNichols. He barely played it all in San Francisco last year. Couple of snaps on special teams, never touched the football. He's already had one more run here in Washington than he had with the Niners. That was on Monday night, filling in for Echler. But he had two seasons in a row in Tennessee in 2020 and 2021. We had over 40 carries. The average 4.3 yards per carry in 2020. 3.8 yards per carry in 2021. I think they'll use him quite a bit, actually, in the Echler role. Not as many snaps as Austin would get, but on those important downs with pass protection. He had a monster blitz pickup with a de-cleater against the linebacker actually on the play where Jaden took the shot and threw the touchdown to Terry McLaurin to win the game. I think they trust him in Pass Pro. He can catch the football a little bit. You know, he can run it because it's what he's done his entire career and his entire life. So for all those reasons, Danny, I think he's going to play plenty, but this will be the Brian Robinson show to me. You maybe don't use him on third down. You're going to try to spell him. Obviously you're going to have him thump on early downs, but I'll bet you Robinson, if they stay ahead of schedule and game script is how they want their closer leading. He's going to be close to 20 rushes, probably five or six catches. Yeah, I would think 20 touches in the cards. I think I'll take the overall. I mean, carries. I think he'll be over 20 close to 20 carries over 20 touches for me close to 25. Maybe I think it's going to be a big time be Rob. Yeah, if they're successful, if they're standing on the field as they have been, if they're standing ahead of the chains, there wasn't a lot of early down running success for the for Washington this past week. You know, Robinson only, I think to the tune of like two and change per carry, you know, hard yards, though, in a lot of ways, right? And those are necessary to kind of set up everything else, but I think you're going to see a steady diet of Brian Robinson early and often. And I was surprised. He didn't catch a ton of passes once Eckler went out. I thought you'd see a couple of those things, those kind of swing passes are kind of keeping easy stuff on early downs instead of trying to thump down the middle. But there was a plan, a method to that matter, certainly. I'd like to see them spread Arizona out and still have that short passing game going even without Echler when not with B. Robert McNichols involved in the tight ends a little more. Like maybe this has been Senate. Remember, let's not forget, Senate's got some H back to him. He is a tight end, but he also can play that fullback role a little bit. You could go split eye and get him into the flat Larry center style. You could have him in motion and then align behind the tackle like a wing or whatever. Some of those I formation and kind of shuffles and looks like it's a lead block, but it's not. You know, you work off the different looks. There's a lot of different ways. I think that they could get him out into space. He's not caught a pass yet. He's been open, plenty, including in this game early in the game. And we talked about this yesterday. Jaden Daniels, because he picks up a handful every time he runs, where occasionally we'll throw it elsewhere and pretty much all the plays that he made and they made worked out. It didn't matter that he missed Senate on a couple of occasions way down the field. I think eight and even on the broadcast showed a couple of them and said, Hey, I know this guy isn't doing anything yet. And commanders fans are kind of wondering where he is, but just know on the tape, he's open more often than you think. I was saying the same thing last week at this time about Luke McCaffrey. He was number three among all wide receivers via PFF and separation score. And he popped one for 40 on a fourth and two, which was a great play by Daniels. That was not the design of that play, by the way, to find him was awesome. And he had another catch later in the game again, where he kind of got some separation. But I think we could see Senate without Echler having two or three catches for the first time and they could use him a little more in that H back full back role as a pass catcher. Someone's got to make up for those Echler touches, right? And it could be the, do we force feed for the sake of argument? We feed Robinson more. Do we feed McClure and more? No, a brown more? Or do we kind of go against type something we haven't shown just yet, which you just saw this past week? And if there are more tricks in the bag, the easy button is having lost an Echler to it, right? Like, so there's two ways that I think of offense as easy and I put that in quotes. Easy is you've got a home run threat where you throw it as far as you can and the Sean Jackson goes and catches it. That's easy, right? Tyree kill makes offense easy for teams. Because defenses are threatened. He could either take it to the house or the threat of them doing so open stuff up. Then there's the my two yard dump off goes for eight. My check down goes for 14, right? That's what Echler does. And that's, I'm saying as valuable, but close to me, right? I'm standing ahead of the chains. It's those hidden yards. There's nothing sexy about Austin Echler catching a screen and going for 14. Well, those are huge drive sustaining plays that are afterthoughts in a game where we saw the throws to Terry McClorn and, you know, some of those fourth downs and this and that, that a second and ten becomes a first down because Echler wiggled his way through 17 different people, broke a tackle, carried two dudes forward and gets a first down right in the middle of the field. Like those kinds of hidden plays, it makes everybody look smart. That's the easy offense. The first drive of the game was the Echler show. Seven yard plus, probably closer to eight run on first down catch for the first down getting play on second and short. Back to back plays, ten plus yards, chains moved and now you're almost at midfield. That's the other funny thing with this new kickoff rule. When you start at the 30, we were talking about this. You get one 14 or so yard completion in the middle of the field. You're basically at midfield in one play. It doesn't feel like the five yard closer to midfield rule change would make a big difference, but it absolutely has. But then the screen to Echler later on that drive that you're referencing was huge, and then you had the 24 yard touchdown later in the half. I mean, there were two drives that were basically his. So here's your opening drive. You referenced this, but here's the specifics. Echler right tackle eight yards to start the game. Echler, short right pass to the same side for eight yards. There's your 16 and all of a sudden you, to your point, you're just shy of midfield. First and 10 at the 46. First and 10 at the 46, Brian Robinson, no game. That was a theme of the day. They tried to thump him inside and there was not much happening there. So now you're second and 10. Again, that those are difficult situations for any offense to be in, let alone one with a rookie quarterback and the whole young and the young and the blah, blah, blah. You need four there to feel like third down is manageable. How about 14, Austin Echler, little hitch, little screen pass, little bubble. We ever want to call it call to smoke. I don't care, but he turned a pass at the line of scrimmage into a 14 yard first down with now you're in the territory. Yes, the play you're talking about. And now you're first and 10 from the Bengals side of the field. And where were they there? It was like their 45. They're 40. Yeah. So I mean, we're talking. You're basically five yards away from field goal range on three Echler plays to start the game. And you've asked very little to nothing from your quarterback yet. He's thrown two balls behind the line of scrimmage. So running back and handed the ball off. And you are now in field goal range almost. And it, it came that easily for much of the night, but the easy button goes away in Arizona with no Austin Echler. I think B Rob can do some of that. Remember he had the 30 yard catch and run to the goal line in Tampa. So he's got that club in the bag still, I think as a pass catcher. And I won't pretend to know what McNichols is capable of because they just haven't seen enough of him. We haven't seen really any of them in that regard in this offense. In the fast paced world of attacking speed is everything. And that's where the fear on seven plus shines engineered for accuracy and precision at a rapid pace. It's your secret weapon on the pitch experience overall comfort and precise striking even in the game's fastest moments. The nylon outsole with its V-shaped stud configuration is designed for firm ground, giving you the grip you need to out maneuver your opponents. Step up your attacking game and learn more and purchase the fear on at newbalance.com.